Palace mum on Trump’s impeachment

FILE: JULY 13, 2017 : The President of United States of America Donald Trump at the Elysee Palace for an extended interview with the french President (Frederic Legrand – COMEO / Shutterstock.com)

MANILA — Malacañang on Thursday was tight-lipped when asked to react on the move of the US House of Representatives to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.

“In the same way that we react on any intrusion into the processes of our government, we’d rather not make any comment on that,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“Other than saying that in the same way that impeachment in this country is decided on the basis of party affiliations, eh siguro ganun din sila (perhaps they are the same),” he added.

In September this year, Panelo said Duterte and Trump had the same leadership “style” which is why they share respect for each other.

“You know if you recall the style of the President was much earlier than Trump.

 Bago pa nagkaroon ng Trump may Duterte na eh (Before there was Trump, there was Duterte),” Panelo said.

Duterte was elected into office in June 2016 while Trump was elected in December 2016.

The two leaders met for the first time during the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila.

Reports showed that the Democratic-led House voted to pass both of its two articles of impeachment brought against Trump.

The first, charging Trump with abuse of his power by pressuring Ukraine to pursue investigations that could benefit his reelection campaign.

The second accuses him of obstructing Congress by directing administration officials and agencies not to comply with lawful House subpoenas for testimony and documents related to impeachment.

This is the third time a President has been impeached in US history.

The case will now head to the Senate.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and earlier called the impeachment drive an “attempted coup” by Democrats seeking to nullify his 2016 election victory.

He is seeking another four-year term in the November 2020 presidential election.